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Showing posts from May, 2018

Star Spangled Banter

The national anthem, the "Star Spangled Banner", has gotten a lot of attention of late. Regardless of our personal feelings about it, I would venture that as close to 100% as can be have heard it and most have stood and sung along; some with hand over heart, some in salute, and some texting on their cell phones. My thoughts lately have been with how many have thought about the lyrics. How they came about and what they actually say. In 1812 the United States declared war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland (the UK). This was the first declaration of war for a young nation. The prevailing sentiment was that the UK had to be forced to support and respect the sovereignty of the young USA. (NOTE: The following is an accurate but gross over-simplification of the times - it is NOT meant to be a defining history of the beginnings of the War of 1812, just a primer for those interested and maybe uninformed AND, if you do not care to read the history - scroll down to